Orders to verify the Aadhaar IDs of passengers have been issued by the Ministry of Railways. The ministry has directed all railway zones in the country to ensure that ticket-checking personnel verifies the Aadhaar identity of passengers in real-time through the ‘M-Aadhaar Application’. If any Aadhaar card is found to be fake, immediate action should be taken.
This instruction has been issued after cases came to light in which some people are living unauthorizedly in India with fake or forged Aadhaar cards. Not only this, they are using them as identity proof for various purposes including employment and travel.
The Ministry of Railways has written a letter in this regard to the Principal Chief Commercial Manager. It says, “To prevent misuse of Aadhaar card and identity fraud, it has become necessary to further strengthen the process of identity verification. Ticket checking personnel should check and verify the identity cards of passengers without any predetermined order.”
The letter mentions that the ‘M-Aadhaar Application’ developed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is useful for checking real identity. QR code-based verification facility is available in this app.
The QR code present on the Aadhaar card will be scanned.
The Railway Ministry said that on scanning the QR code present on the Aadhaar card, the main identification information like the person’s photo, name, gender, date of birth, address, and Aadhaar number appears on the screen, which can instantly verify the authenticity of the document. The letter also stated that this application also functions in offline mode, so that it can prove useful in preventing incidents of forgery and fake identity.
There is a provision for jail and fine
All zones of the Railways have been requested to train their ticket-checking personnel to download and use the ‘M-Aadhaar App’. The letter states, “If the Aadhaar card of any passenger or employee appears suspicious or fake, then its information should be immediately given to the Railway Protection Force / local police / State Railway Police so that necessary legal action can be taken.” The ministry also reminded that as per the Aadhaar Act, if a person adopts a fake identity or obtains Aadhaar fraudulently, he is liable to be imprisoned and fined.